Tom Merilion
Dad 1 - Urggghhhhh! A bit of a Mess. That foot is not pretty. My skin is very thin, fragile, Photograph
Dad 2 - I’m deep in thought. Face is quite nice and I think I look quite youthful and then its all downhill from there - fat body and a pair of tits. Reminds me of my father, Photograph
Dad 3 - This is like Scrooge or a picture or King Lear when he was going mad. Looks are like a blanket protecting myself. It could illustrate something religious, Photograph
Unwise Exposure
I have spent more time with my dad in the last couple of years than I have in the last 35 years of my life.
He is 91 and has always been quite vain but now he feels that his body is letting him down. He says he can’t quite believe his appearance in the photographs I have taken of him. We talked about them over glasses of wine. A distillation of his reactions formed the captions and text accompanying each of the images.
I found myself photographing my father’s inevitable decline but time spent collaborating with him has been very special. “Unwise exposure” was one of the terms my dad used to describe an image in the series.
A project, especially a very personal one, can grow from the most unlikely circumstances and having the confidence to share it can be the be the most difficult hurdle to jump - but sometimes you just have make that leap.